While the budget proposal fully funds Trump's own priorities, his budget proposes spending $57 billion less in domestic spending than Congress authorized just three days ago.

Author:
Gregory Korte, USA TODAY

Published:
12:36 PM EST February 12, 2018

A budget proposal President Trump sent to Congress Monday would allow $1.2 trillion in discretionary spending in 2019, including $23 billion for border security and immigration enforcement, $21 billion for infrastructure, and $17 billion to combat the opioid epidemic.

But while the budget proposal fully funds Trump's own priorities, his budget proposes spending $57 billion less in domestic spending than Congress authorized just three days ago.

The budget plan is the first step toward filling in the details of a two-year budget framework passed by Congress last week, which increased caps on both military and domestic spending. That compromise — specifically designed to win the support of Senate Democrats and avoid a filibuster — ended an 8-hour partial government shutdown Friday and signaled a budget truce for at least the next 19 months.

Trump's proposal includes down payments on some of his biggest priorities, including:

- Infrastructure: The 2019 budget provides $21 billion next year toward an infrastructure spending plan worth $200 billion over 10 years — and which the White House says will help spur $1.5 trillion in spending when combined with state, local and private funds.

"This will be a big week for Infrastructure. After so stupidly spending $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is now time to start investing in OUR Country!" Trump tweeted Monday morning.

- Border security: The $23 billion figure includes $18 billion toward the border wall along the Mexican border. $2.7 billion to detain up to 52,000 undocumented immigrants and $782 million to hire 2,750 more customs and immigration agents.